Biofeedback cat ears will become available spring 2012

[frameacloud]

Trigger warnings: none that I can think of.

A Japanese company called Neurowear has formed to create high-tech products for a fashionable image of an “augmented human body.”¹ Neurowear’s first product is a pair of wearable cat ears on a headband, named Necomimi (from Japanese neko cat + mimi ear). The headband includes brainwave sensors. Based on live data collected by these sensors, the cat ears move around to express the wearer’s inner feelings: perked up when alert, drooping when relaxed, and several other states in between.²

Admittedly, the body language of these ears noticeably differs from that of a real cat. The developers said, “For example, when cats are frightened or want to scare away an enemy, they flatten their ears. But with Necomimi, flat ears mean a relaxed state of mind … We have changed the meaning to suit human perceptions. To humans, it's kind of cute when cat ears are flat.”³ Anticipate miscommunications between animals and humans.

The November 28, 2011 issue of Time Magazine lists Necomimi as one of the 50 best inventions of the year.⁴

Neurowear recently stated that Necomimi will become commercially available in spring 2012.⁵ Since Necomimi is still in development, Neurowear hasn’t yet determined the price or other specifications,⁶ but Neurowear does say that Necomimi will cost “several hundred dollars per unit.”⁷ If you want your own Necomimi, follow the Neurowear blog to find out when they become available.⁸ Otherwise, you could fall prey to the bootleg fake Necomimi that started to appear last June, which probably have the high price and none of the performance.⁹

- O. Scribner

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Sources

1. Admin, “About us.” April 1, 2011. Neurowear. http://neurowear.com/?p=48
(Published on April 1? Hmm… well, the rest of the project has gone on too long to be an April Fool’s Day prank.)
2. Chiaki Kawase, “Some feline fun with hi-tech headgear.” May 16, 2011. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-technology-cat-idUSTRE74F3XY20110516
3. Reuters.
4. Admin, “‘Necomimi’ selected ‘TIME MAGAZINE / The 50 best invention of the year.” November 22, 2011. Neurowear. http://neurowear.com/?p=153
5. Ibid.
6. Admin, “Thank you for a lot of tweet & Like!” May 10, 2011. Neurowear. http://neurowear.com/?p=120
7. Reuters.
8. Neurowear. http://neurowear.com/
9. Admin, “Warning for illegal sales site of ‘necomimi.’” June 16, 2011. Neurowear. http://neurowear.com/?p=131

Comments

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

Bet they will very quickly be modded to mimic real feline body language...

[zeeth_kyrah]

I hope so! I'm too used to actual cats to want to see a human with cat-ears laid back.

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I know multiple feline-therian hackers that would probably be first in line to mod them. :)

[frameacloud]

There's a reason why Neurowear made the ears the way that they did: they were working with the limitations and capabilities of what their sensors could detect. The biofeedback sensors detect the wearer's inner activity along a scale of more active or more relaxed. "Interested" and "angry" are opposites in real cat ear body language, but to the biofeedback sensors, "interested" and "angry" both register as "most active."

I propose that in order to distinguish between "interested" and "angry," a hacker could add an additional pair of sensors on the wearer's brow in order to detect eyebrow movements. Raised and lowered eyebrows happen to correspond to perked and flattened cat ears. The pair of sensors would detect whether a crease in the brow has brought the pair of sensors closer to one another. The problem with that plan is that it means gluing stuff on your face.

[arethinn]

Yeah, I was going to say, I would hope for a setting so you could switch back and forth or something.

[hoyvinglavin64.livejournal.com]

I want!

[of-salfarro.livejournal.com]

I would so mod those to be dragon ears!

[frameacloud]

I was just thinking how well they would work as fan-shaped ears that furl and unfurl, made out of sheer webbing-like fabric...